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RIM cuts prices of tablets, extends sale till February

It seems to be quite clear that RIM’s ambitious venture into the world of tablets has been quite disastrous.

In a desperate bid to get more PlayBooks into users’ hands, Research In Motion (RIM) has cut price of its tablet range, and extended the sale of the tablets till February.

Blackberry PlayBooks bought from the online store are going to be priced at $299, irrespective of storage capacity. What this means is that whether you go for the 32 GB version or the 64GB one, the price is going to be the same.

PlayBooks a hard sell
Ever since their introduction, the PlayBooks have not really been doing too well in the market.

With a strong domination of Apple with its iPads in the market, other players have been finding it hard to get a strong foothold.

Even giants like Samsung and Amazon have been vying for the attention of consumers, with the Galaxy Tabs and Kindle Fire.

A recent survey had revealed that up to 40 percent of tablet owners are ready to switch their tablets for an iPad.

With a fire sale, RIM wants to get as many PlayBooks as it can into the hands of consumers.

It seems to be quite clear that RIM’s ambitious venture into the world of tablets has been quite disastrous. At a price of $299, RIM is selling its tablets at around 60 percent of the original price.

With such a massive knockdown in prices, it might be that RIM is selling the tablets at a significant loss or perhaps reducing its margins to get rid of all that stock of unsold PlayBooks.

Tough times for RIM
Apart from its unsuccessful foray into tablets, RIM has been going through a hard time. Stock prices of the company have fallen to almost one-quarter of what they were back in 2010. If rumors are anything to go buy, RIM is even on the verge of replacing its chairman.

With a fire sale, RIM wants to get as many PlayBooks as it can into the hands of consumers. The more consumers own PlayBooks, the better it is for RIM, even if it means selling the tablets at a loss.

If more and more consumers buy PlayBooks, RIM could then coax software developers to build applications for its platform.

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